First Week of Classes

Unfortunately my first week of law school, which I've been looking forward to forever, was vastly overshadowed by Mother Nature. But other than that, the first week of classes was great. After being out of school for over a year, it's taken me a while to get used to getting up so early again.

Monday was the first day of classes. They went pretty well all in all. I wasn't the first student called on Monday morning so that was a huge relief.

Tuesday as I was reading in between classes when the earthquake struck. It was a bizarre feeling and as it was happening I just kept thinking "I hope this stops soon because its really uncomfortable." We stood outside on the streets around the school for about an hour before they let us back in.

Wednesday I got called on for the first time in my Contracts class. I didn't make a huge fool of myself so that's always a plus.

Thursday it became apparent that Hurricane Irene was going to hit the East Coast so after classes I headed to Safeway. I stocked up on all kinds of food, but I couldn't find a flashlight there.

Friday, after my only class in the morning, I headed out on an expedition to find a flashlight. I went to this shopping area in nearby Tenleytown. I trekked to Best Buy, Ace Hardware, Radio Shack, and several CVS, but all to no avail; each place was sold out of flashlights. I finally walked by a bike store and I thought, hey why not? In the basement, below the bike shop, I found the Holy Grail of hurricane preparedness. They had not one, not two, but three different kinds of full-size flashlights still for sale! So luckily, I did not return empty-handed.

Saturday I woke up early to finish preparing. I took a shower and afterwards filled the bathtub up with water. I made sure to get cash from the ATM, put batteries in the flashlight, and made a pasta salad to eat later for dinner. By lunchtime I hunkered down on my sofa ready for the hurricane. And then . . . it never really got that bad. I didn't loose power at all, which allowed me to marathon through two seasons of Mad Men on Netflix.

So, all-in-all, a very busy week. Sunday I let out the water in my tub and got down to reading. Nothing too exciting but this week is going to be even crazier.

8.17: Annapolis, Maryland

Wednesday we took a little trip to Annapolis which is only about 40 minutes away from my apartment. It is a quaint little town. It's home to the U.S. Naval Academy. Boutique shops and restaurants line the streets by the docks. It's a really nice place to walk around for a day or afternoon. Every restaurant is stock-piled with fresh sea-food entrees.

Arriving on the main street of Annapolis

Watching the ducks on the dock.

In the afternoon, we took a boat ride on the Severn River on which Annapolis is located. The Severn River eventually opens up to the Chesapeake Bay but the little cruise stayed on the Severn. We sailed around the U.S. Naval Academy and got a much better view of the school than one can get from in the city.

U.S. Naval Academy 

We're on a boat! 

Little sail boats on the Severn River

We also got our fill of seafood. For lunch we ate at a little dinner on the main street (Chick and Ruth's Delly was the name). They had great crab cakes and the rest of the food was pretty good too. In the afternoon Dandrich had oysters from the Middleton Tavern. For dinner we ate at the Federal House. I had a salmon fillet with pesto sauce and Dandrich had a seafood medley with shrimp, crab, and scallops. All the food we had there in Annapolis was excellent and fresh.

Maryland crab cakes and ribeye steak sandwich 

Oysters 

Salmon fillet with pesto sauce, rice and vegetables

Overall, I think Annapolis is a great little day trip, especially if you live or are visiting the D.C. or Baltimore area. I'm sure we'll head back sometime because I really don't think you can go wrong at any of the restaurants there (unless you eat at the Jimmy John's we passed on the main street - don't waste your time on that when there's so much good seafood available).

Annapolis Harbor 

First Days in D.C.

So it's been about a week since I've moved but it's been so busy! I've just now had the time to sit down and put anything together. We left for DC on Thursday at 6am. It was not a smooth start. My brother took a few pieces of my furniture in his truck, a desk and two bookcases. But we were barely on the road for five minutes when the tailgate of the truck fell open. We pulled over, shut it, and continued on. Just a few minutes later it fell open again (and did so again a total of six times). So we returned home and switched cars. I was no longer able to take the desk or the bookcases but at least I was able to take all the other little stuff. We finally hit the road around 8am. To make matters worse on the road our caravan got separated and Dandrich and I ended up getting missing an exit and taking a forty minute detour. Finally we got there, although nearly three hours after our anticipated arrival. But luckily it turned out alright.

Last pictures with my family before I left.

After carrying all the boxes, suitcases, bags etc inside we headed to Ikea to get the furniture which would now also include a desk and bookcase. The boxes wouldn't fit in the cars to take them back to my apartment so we had to sign up for home delivery. The soonest available time they  had was Saturday between 6pm-10pm so that's what we went with. Unfortunately they didn't have everything we needed at that Ikea so Friday we went another one in Virginia. Friday night and all day Saturday and Sunday we spent assembling furniture and putting the apartment together. I vastly underestimated the amount of time it would take to get everything put together. We were running errands for most of Monday and Tuesday.

Q: How many Ikea boxes can you fit in a Prius?
A: This many.

Boxes sitting in my apartment waiting to be unpacked.

Monday we did venture to Chinatown for lunch. We ate at a place called Full Kee. The restaurant was terrific. They had a very authentic Peking duck. It was delicious. Thursday we ate at a great Japanese restaurant, Mokato. It was very traditional - patrons are even required to remove their shoes and wear customary Japanese slippers. I didn't get any pictures there because you are required to turn off your cell phone. The food was great. We got a ten-course meal which sounds like a lot more food then it really was because each course was rather small. But what it lacked in size it made up for in deliciousness. It was one of the best meals I ever had. Wednesday, once we finally had a bit of free time we went Annapolis, Maryland but I'm planning on doing a separate blogpost about that adventure.

Gateway in Chinatown

Moving and Flogging Molly

So I haven't been able to post for awhile and not because of a lack of things to post about. I have actually been insanely busy with the moving process. I had to move out of my old apartment in Columbus by the end of July but won't be moving to D.C. until August 11. So I've been homeless for a few days now. Luckily my parents have let me crash in their basement.

Now I know moving is never fun, except when your five and all you have to do is ride your tricycle up and down the ramp of the Uhaul truck, but I have realized the bigger the move the less fun it is. The logistics required for a move out-of-state are frustrating. It is a lot easier to get friends to help you move boxes for an afternoon than it is to get them to dedicate two or three days, which, by the way, is understandable.

Some things I've learned:

• When you pack a box/bag/suitcase etc. make sure to label what is inside. It sucks to have to reopen a bunch of boxes just to find one thing. 
• It is easier, and depending on the size of your place cheaper, to buy new furniture once you get there. Moving trucks are super expensive if you aren't moving in-town. For my move it would have been $600 plus gas costs plus 10 cents a mile on top of that! 
• You find all kinds of lost treasures when you move! 
• Things will not go the way you plan. Just expect to be frustrated and overwhelmed multiple times before you settle down. 

To further complicate matters during the weekend I had to move I happened to already have tickets to a Flogging Molly concert. And I couldn't let those go to waste. So after moving all the furniture and heavy stuff Friday we headed over to the LC Pavilion for the concert. We had barely found our spot on the lawn when it started raining, and eventually pouring, for the next four hours. 

But we stuck it out even though the first band, Clutch, sucked and kept getting delayed. At one point during the torrential downpour the frontman of Clutch said "Hold on guys, we're going to take five for a minute." Finally Flogging Molly took the stage. It was totally worth the wait. They played for just a little over two hours, which is a pretty long set, especially during an outdoor show bombarded by a  monsoon. They played all the songs I wanted to hear and some cool new stuff off their most recent album as well. 

I have no pictures or video of my own. (I didn't take my camera because of the rain). But, check out the video above I found on YouTube from the show. So in summary, a lot going on right now but I'm not going to bore you with all the banal details. Suffice it to say that since I'll be moving this Thursday there are about to be an explosion of new posts. Stayed tuned!